UPDATE 2: Norilsk Nickel says finances 5 bln rbl fuel spill cleanup

(Rewrites story)             

MOSCOW, Jun 19 (PRIME) -- Russian metals producer Norilsk Nickel has financed cleanup of the Norilsk fuel spill for about 5 billion rubles, head of the company Vladimir Potanin told President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

"The company participates in this work proactively. More than 200 experts of the company, more than 150 equipment units participate daily. Besides, we fully finance the works. About 5 billion rubles have been financed as of today," Potanin said. He also pledged to cover the costs of damage fully.

Rescue works have reversed the situation in Norilsk, Putin said.

“Really large-scale work was done in the past few weeks. I know that we have managed to reverse the situation… contain the fuel spill and then start to clean the contaminated area," Putin said. He said that the incident was of an unpreceded scale.

The president asked government officials and Potanin to report on whether conditions to lift the state of emergency of the federal were met.

A fuel tank at Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, part of Norilsk Nickel group, lost pressure on May 29 and leaked out fuel and lubricants into the river Ambarnaya, causing a fire.

Emergency Minister Yevgeny Zinichev said a temporary pipeline can be built in Norilsk to collect spilt fuel. "Concerning the third stage, we have an outstanding task to relocate the waste to the recycling place and we see a solution… we will most probably build a flexible pipeline and this pipeline will go to the recycling place," the minister said.

A source with knowledge of the works told PRIME that the pipeline is needed because of the swampland, which prevents taking away collected emulsion.

Oil pipeline monopoly Transneft collected 9,250 cubic meters of fuel leaked in Norilsk, the company said in a statement.

"Oil product collection from the water in the amount of 9,250 cubic meters has been fulfilled, 60 cubic meters over the last 24 hours," Transneft said.

Concentration of contaminants in rivers before the skimmers exceeds the norm by 400–500%, after the skimmers by 350%, a representative of emergency services told PRIME.

Putin asked to accelerate works on draft laws on environment protection. The emergency in Norilsk showed systemic issues that must be analyzed, he said.  He also ordered to prepare a report on the facilities similar to the damaged site after June 24.

(69.6180 – U.S. $1)

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